Fixing the Yeshiva World BDE notice for Yehuda Meshi-Zahav

In keeping with its habit of minimizing the horrendous sex crimes of Haredi notables, Yeshiva World News ran the headline. BDE: Ex-ZAKA Chairman Yehudah Meshi-Zahav Passes Away.

They did not lie and wrote a lukewarm account but also did not make clear what a horrible man he was. I figured I could fix it with some additions, which are bolded in this post. So Here goes.

Yeshiva World News Finally Reports about a Child Molester

The good news is that Yeshiva World News, a Haredi web-based outlet finally reported a case of child molesting. Yesterday (4/12/15) they ran the headline: “Williamsburg Community On Edge After Man Inappropriately Touches Child On Flushing Avenue.” The story states:

The NYPD along with Williamsburg Shomrim (WSPU) are investigating an incident involving a forcible touching of a child. Law enforcement sources tell YWN that the troubling incident happened around 9:30AM, Sunday, at the corner of Flushing Avenue and Nostrand Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The victim, an 11-year-old child was touched inappropriately by a… male walking on the street. The frightened child ran to school and did not tell anyone about the incident until his father came to pick him up around 12:00 noon. At that time, police and Shomrim were called, and an NYPD Level 1 Mobilization Response was requested.

I left out one word in the above story, “Hispanic.” Apparently it is OK to object to Hispanic males inappropriately touching Jewish children. But it is not OK to expose orthodox offenders. For that matter, Shomrim in Williamsburg also will work against non-Jewish child molesters but not against Jews.

See also: Mesirah or Mesorah? It All Depends – Satire

Shmuel Borger’s Newest Tape about Motty Borger

An aonymous survivor of sex abuse wrote me:

There are so many things that are disturbing both about the Shmuel Borger audio and about the Yeshivah World News that posted it, that it is difficult to know quite how to respond.  I will just open the discussion (leaving it to others to comment) by bringing up an issue that this raised for me that I feel is extremely troubling and detrimental to our community:

In his speech, Mr. Borger alludes to “terrible lies”  being spread about his son.  “Lashon Harah of the most vile kind”.  Even if we stretch the imagination of a pained man, and choose to naively believe that the newspapers got it wrong, and that the medical examiner got it wrong, I simply do not understand why this kind of “mistake” requires such a vociferous “defense”.

The story in the Post is that his son was molested by a bad man, who has since been convicted,  and that unable to deal with the emotional pain and trauma, he was lead to take his own life. He was not said to have done anything wrong.  He was not said to have been an abuser.  He was not said to have covered up for an abuser.  He was not said to have cheated on his income tax.

He was said to have been mortally wounded by an evil monster.

Why is that a “vile kind” of lashon harah?

I can understand that if indeed it is not true (again, stretching the rational mind pretty far) that it was irresponsible of people to make up and spread untrue rumors.  But why is our community, represented by this tape and by the Yeshiva World that posted it, living in some kind of primitive, alternate universe where being victimized or being mentaly ill, is compared to a shameful crime?  Does this not give the message to all survivors that if you come forward and reveal your victimization you are speaking “the most vile kind of lashon harah” about yourself?

Is this perhaps the message Mr. Borger WANTS to convey?  Is it the message our community, so desparate to cover up its sins, has been hammering home to victims of abuse for years?

To survivors of abuse, if Motty Borger, as almost any nonbiased person would believe, died because of criminal harm committed against him simply for being a nice Jewish boy, he is a Tzadik who died Al Kiddush Hashem.

To Mr. Borger and his cohorts who want abuse covered up, to say he committed suicide due to a traumatic stress reaction is to say he was vile.

Who is really vile?